How to Shoot a Football with Accuracy - Six Steps

How do you Improve Your Accuracy in Football?

Every great football player needs to be able to strike the ball with accuracy. When you’re one on one with the keeper, you need to have the composure to slot the ball home. If accuracy is something you struggle with, not to worry. Striking the ball with more precision is something that can be learned over time. In this article, we’ll show you how to shoot a football with more accuracy in six simple to understand steps.

Once you’ve got the basics of shooting the ball down, you can start working on applying more power to your shots. Luckily, we also have an article explaining how to shoot the ball with more power. Next time you’re training individually or in a group, try to incorporate some of these tips to improve your shooting.

Hopefully these steps can help you out wherever you are in your football journey. Good luck out on the field!

Stride Into the Ball

When you’re going to take a shot, you don’t want the ball to be caught under your feet. The ball should be at least a step away in order to set up your shot.

Always step towards the ball with pace, as this will allow you to generate a much cleaner and more accurate strike. You should also let your shooting leg swing back as you approach the ball. This will ensure that your shot will have momentum behind it.

Place Your Standing Foot Next to The Ball

As you approach the ball, make sure to place your standing foot level with football. Correctly placing your standing foot next to the ball is crucial to having an accurate shot.

If your foot is too far in front of the ball, your shot won’t have enough power. If your foot is too far behind the ball, your shot will likely soar over the crossbar.

For added accuracy, your standing foot should be pointed towards where you are aiming your shot. This helps set up your body to shoot the ball exactly where you want it to go.

Target the Corners

It’s safe to say that the corners of the goal are almost always the best place to aim your shot. This is because the corners are going to be much harder for the keeper to get to.

Shooting at the bottom left or bottom right corners of the goal is one of the most effective ways to score. You don’t need a whole lot of power to score in this scenario. All you need is a well placed shot.

As mentioned earlier, you want to point your standing foot in the direction of the corner you’re aiming for. You may also want to open up your body if it helps you get a better angle while shooting.

Look at the Ball

So often players do everything right, but then they take their eyes off the ball at the last second. Once you’ve decided where you’re going to shoot, you don’t need to keep looking at the goal.

All of your focus should be on the football, and how you’re going to strike it. Keeping your eye on the ball as you take your shot will also ensure that you get solid contact with your strike. So be sure to maintain eye contact with the ball as you take your shot.

Strike With the Side of Your Foot

When you’re trying to shoot the ball with accuracy, using the side of your foot is going to be the way to go. The side of your foot is relatively flat compared to the rest of your foot. This makes it a more predictable area for striking the ball. Your shot is likely to travel straight with little to no bend when using the side of your foot.

As you prepare to strike the ball, slightly open the ankle of your shooting leg to show the side of your boot to the ball. Try and make contact with the center of the ball, and then follow through with your shooting leg.

Be sure that you also lock your ankle as you shoot the ball. This will make sure that your shot is both accurate and has some power behind it.

Practice

Your shot won’t just improve overnight. The only way to guarantee developing a more accurate shot is practicing hundreds of times.

If you’re not used to taking a lot of shots in game, focus on taking more shots in practice. This will allow you to improve your technique in a more relaxed environment. It will also give you more confidence when you decide to take a shot in a game.

With enough training, your shot will get better over time and this technique will become engrained.

Recap

Now let’s recap the most important points for shooting the ball with accuracy. These are the six points that we’ve highlighted in this article:

Stride into the ball
Place your standing foot next to the ball
Target the corners
Look at the ball
Strike with the side of your foot
Practice

If you’re looking for more visual tips on improving your shot, Unisport has put together a great video with 5 tips to improve your technique. This video also covers how to generate more power on your shots, and how to make your training more game specific.

If you’re interested in a free individual training program that contains exercises for dribbling, passing, and shooting, use the link below to get yours for free.

Free Training Program